Industry News

RE: Call to all Motorists to Boycott Fuel and Any Movement on 3rd and 4th September 2018

We are very sad today to wake up to increased fuel prices regardless of Parliament Law and the Petition the Motorists’ Association presented to CS Treasury and National Assembly. As a body synonymous with representing the best interest of motorists in general, we wish to register our anger towards the Minister of Finance Henry Rotich action. We, therefore, wish to call upon motorists to again express their anger tomorrow Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th and if possible Wednesday by boycotting fuel and participating in a strike of not going to work in the morning as much as possible. All Wednesday mornings henceforth will be boycott day until a time when we shall get fair fuel prices in Kenya. We have also noted a deliberate miscalculation by ERC aimed at robbing us a further sh. 3.10 translating to a whopping sh. 450Million daily in their announcement yesterday. The correct calculation should be based on landed cost 57.82 + distribution cost 3.9 + merchants margin 10.89 = 72.61. 72.61*16% = 11.62. How did ERC get 14.71 for VAT? This is the pure criminal fixing of prices.

We disprove the CS single decree to effect the malignant VAT despite all the protest from important stakeholders and even parliament itself.

PROTEST AGAINST BRUTAL 16 PERCENT VALUE ADDED TAX ON FUEL

We at motorist Association of Kenya strongly oppose the government plan to charge 16 percent value-added tax (VAT) per litre on fuel. The move to raise pump prices to a record Sh130.15 per litre is brutal as it will swindle we who drive our hard earned money. MAK has, therefore, resolved to resist the injurious action in any way possible. A date for countrywide protest will be announced soon once we agree with all those to be affected. Vehicle owners consume a combined 15Million litres of petrol and diesel daily. This means the harsh price increase of Sh17.9 per will rob motorists a whopping 268.5 Million on daily basis.

The Treasury principal secretary Kamau Thugge and CS Rotich must not be allowed to sell Kenyans birthright to International Monetary Fund (IMF). We know politics were played to dupe us to vote first by postponing the VAT in 2016. If the rip off is effected, the economy will collapse since transport of goods and persons is so important. Increasing diesel used to power trucks, buses, tractors and petrol use by the middle class is the most callous move by the CS.

The new tax will badly burden the already heavily taxed vehicle owners. Tax on one litre alone will amount to Ksh 70 per every litre, the highest anywhere on earth.

Targeting motorists alone every time to fill government deficit and wastage is the worst form of discrimination. To be fair Kenya Revenue Authority should raise the tax to all Kenyans not one section of marginalized Kenyans every time, punished only on the basis of owning a vehicle. Sh71 billion a year treasury target is not true since true calculation show missing Sh27 002 500 000. Based on daily consumption the actual figure is Ksh 98 002 500 000, not Sh 71 billion.

Motorists will resist in a big way this ulterior move targeting them by The IMF in collusion with the treasury. Dictating terms to Kenya to do away with tax exemptions is not a preserve of the bank. It is immoral to subject fuel consumers to reduce budget deficits or paying of the national debt pile-ups. If IMF wants to grow revenues it should not target one section of Kenyans just because they are driving they should aim at all, not vehicle owners who use their vehicles for convenience and business as opposed to the assumption that vehicles ownership is a sinful luxury. The treasurer is not sincere here.

Kenyan motorists continue to suffer a raw deal despite them being the top taxpayers. Recently we were denied benefits of low global oil prices by this same government and road maintenance especially of earth roads is so poor despite the 2017 doubling of road maintenance levy to a whopping sh18 per litre.

High fuel prices are counterproductive since they cause a general rise in prices of essential commodity goods across the board. Big Four socio-economic rhetoric and such excuses notwithstanding, transport of goods and persons should not be a gamble by some government official and a foreign bank lest we want to collapse the fragile economy. Already fuel prices are too high after wily calculated increase immediately done after the general elections. Kenyans are not fools to see the systematic increase in every monthly review to prohibitive Sh112 for petrol and Sh 97 for diesel. After outcry exposed electricity scandal, the easy target now is the accepting middle-class vehicle owner who uses the car for convenience. As seen in a report, Dr Thugge callously downplaying the disastrous impact of the new tax saying that producers will claim “Input VAT” shows disregard to the helpless consumer motorists. Scheming with VAT-registered taxpayers to make more out of their profit margins as seen in his comments on Business Daily is the most unfortunate thing coming from a state office. “VAT will, therefore, lower their cost base and as such, they should be able to retain reasonable margins on petroleum pump prices,” He was reported saying. All this at whose cost? We can’t allow this arrangement! As motorists, we know the government is giving other consumers reprieve while heaving their burdens on the longsuffering oppressed motorist. A good example is the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which has been zero-rated and spared the VAT, to help cushion consumers from higher energy costs, unlike the vehicle owner. Discrimination is an understatement.

It is very subjective since “Other items that have a direct impact on the livelihoods of ordinary mwananchi remain zero-rated,” Dr. Thugge said, citing bread, milk, and medicines to quote the BD report.

“Kenya in 2015 entered a binding agreement with the IMF to charge VAT on fuel and had Treasury officials write a letter of commitment a week before the fund approved a $688.3 million (Sh69 billion) standby loan.” end of quote. Motorists can easily do a Harambee to raise the Sh 69 billion given as the excuse to introduce VAT by IMF in 2015. That is a very small loan to subject us to this torment. The signing parties are just not being sincere. Motorists are going to sign a petition demanding the Treasury secretary Henry Rotich to rescind this foul policy or face the wrath of Kenyan vehicle owners.

Kenya should not be sold just to get some a precautionary loan.

Our past experience with IMF during tough structural adjustments is still fresh in our minds. They should give us break by keeping off Kenya as they did during Kibaki Administration. We can do without their coaxing.

Action. Motorists will stage a demo on a date to be given.Motorists will sign a petition to president, parliament, and treasury

Motorists will tie a yellow ribbon on their vehicles and stick protest stickers during the period of the protest. Vehicle owners will take legal actionMotorists will seek MP’s support in their constituencies.

11.4.2018THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT IS NOT SERIOUS ON BUS RAPID TRANSIT STANDARDS.

The government rush to introduce a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is understandable considering her failure to implement the 2010 constitutional demands of decent public transport.

The inevitable introduction of National Youth Service commuter buses to salvage the present failed system is commendable. Over the years public transport has failed to self-regulate in delivering a decent transport system hence losing the moral ground to criticize new solution seeking by the government intended to stop the confusion. The state has an obligation to address commuter plight. Any responsible government would not abandoning her citizens to suffer. After subjecting commuters to indignity, the proponents of the rundown system should not again pretend to be saviours of the masses. Their intensions are to hijack the reforms and kill the baby before delivery. Deep-seated vested interests has been the bane that keep the public transport upgrade impossible. Kenya is not an exception by reintroducing a state-run bus system. World over, all well-run systems are under the state even Kenya had one. Public transport is so important at par with essential services like public education, health and security to be left on profiteering private ‘investors’ only.

A BRT standard is not a lane marked on the fast lane of a high-speed expressway. It demands first an infrastructure for High Occupancy Vehicles (not matatus) to use dedicated high standard lane built separately away from existing lanes. A fully automated platform for pick and drop points with swipe and board system. The lane is made by using a high raised kerb service lane(s) to prevent abuse by non-BRT vehicles. An ordinary 33 seater or 51 cannot qualify to be absorbed in a BRT system. Nairobi and other big cities need a bus service akin and improvement of the defunct Kenya Bus Service and Nyayo Bus Service systems not in management only but the specifications which includes commuter capacity able to ferry more than 100 persons at a time, durability, comfort, safety, state ownership, decent seats, world-class customer care service, Pollution prevention, well-ventilated, interior electronic fare paying card et al

The fact the upgrade is long overdue is not reason enough to do it haphazardly. Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ruanda South Africa and many other African cities BRT Systems are already in place in good standards. The beneficiaries of the chaotic systems running amok, must be checked since they are responsible for the sabotage of well past organised formal buses- KBS, Metro buses introduced by Njeru Githae the then minister for Nairobi Metropolitan and NYS Buses. Bad policy on 14 seater has seen dilapidated still roaming the road show how ad policy formulation fail.

Hiving off a lane out of the existing roads is unacceptable. NAMATA should stop being lazy and build a new lane on the central median since there is enough space for that. Other cities hive BRT on median strip and side roads space. There are no two ways about it. BRT must be done right. Transport by other stakeholders should be interfered with unfairly. Unless it’s a wholly State Run System, private motorists, truckers, taxi, tourist vehicle owners, fleet owners and others cannot not allow one subsector to use exclusive lanes. The cartels demanding their way or the highway must not this time have their way at the expense of the masses. The government has overlooked the rundown of transport for too long. The unholy alliance revolves around the top public officials, string-pulling multinationals suppliers and the subsector cartels.

The claim that jobs will be lost is not true or reason enough to continue he informality. The present system will remain intact away from BRT which will serve only some section of Transport. A decent BRT will not eat into existing PSV businesses since many on private means and other who walk due to unfair fares will increase commuter base enhancing movement, numbers and improved GDP. To lure private car owners public transport systems must not only meet the best acceptable standards but introduce time scheduled services to cover current unserved routes. The present matatu picks commuters at main terminals in town or far away pick points badly inconveniencing those that need the services in between the terminals. You can’t cajole private car owner to leave the car home while there is no public service within their exclusive estates. Include too streets that can’t be served by the present disorderly system. If the government can assure me of a clean, world-class, music-less, well ventilated, metro bus cruising outside at my estate or near the office on scheduled timetable, then I will leave my car home. How do you expect me to walk from Muthurwa, Ngara, Railways to my workplace at View Park Towers? Organize the network and proper mapping of routes schedules and I 'll only use my car to run errands, weekend follies, drive to church and Mosque, and for my runabouts away from CBD. A bus moving around and picking commuters at designated bus stops with neon notices on the timings will grow the economy which depends on movements.

The policymakers must not be allowed to circumvent the set world standard of BRT system by corruptly and lazily introducing an inferior system to benefit the well-connected cartels. No to sabotage and hijack of every move to have a state-controlled bus system. The government should stop being lazy and do the right BRT.

Motorist Association of Kenya

Update on matters affecting you as a motorist.

In the recent past, you who drive may have been wondering where the many changing policies in transport are taking us with burning questions on matters which affects our daily motoring lives. Fuel prices have risen to hit Sh112.20 super petrol, diesel at Sh103.25 per litre as July August 2018 review. ERC says you have been using adulterated fuel even from respected outlets. In their crackdown on adulteration of fuel they ‘discovered’ so many dingy yards where the vice takes place. The bad fuel for a long time has damaged our vehicles and the environment. We hoped the discovery of oil would make the commodity affordable. Curiously during the general election campaign, the pump prices were stable but rose steadily thereafter. Economists believe prices above Ksh 100 per litre are bad for motorists and economy in general.

Roads

Salgaa Black Spot is now under construction. MAK lobbied hard for the redesigning of the section of road which has claimed so many lives. Indeed most of the fatalities in the country are due to poor road design. Black spots are bad roads sections. The issue of easily breaking guardrails calls for a change of design of these metallic rails which instead of guarding lives they ironically cause deaths. County Government officials have been among victims of the rails going through vehicles after breaking at the weak bolt joints. Motorists should demand from their area elected leaders for better roads. Graders and sealing of potholes should be ongoing works unlike is the case now, where the machines are seen only in the election year. Outering road was built badly in terms of pedestrian crossing, bus bay and Non-Motorised Traffic is concerned. Allsop's bottleneck is another section that needs redesigning.

Road Accidents

Schools buses road crashes have left parents worrying of what is going on. The buses which recently were painted yellow are easy to detect competing in careless driving with wayward PSVs. Standards for carrying school children in the civilized world are so high that injuries leave alone deaths are rare. Painting buses yellow alone does not make them meet these standards. Bus design in Kenya is a big lie since they are built on lorry chassis compromising the centre of gravity and their weak bodies rip apart even during slight impacts. School bus drivers need special training which is not the case in the country. Killing innocent children by uncaring adults bestowed with care responsibility is inadmissible.

New Driving Licence

At last the red booklet has been replaced by digital licence sold by NTSA at Ksh 3050. The new look licence is available for drivers wishing to renew their licenses and those seeking duplicates after loss or defacing. The smart cards will store data for traffic offence profiles, which will be used to pay government bills after preloading connected to E-Citizen. After a repeat traffic offender reaches a certain amount of demerit points the licenses could be suspended for varying time depending on the severity of the offences according to NTSA notices. Also, insurance companies could be interested in the repeated offenders.

City Driving Indiscipline has extended traffic gridlocks to country roads.

Driving to the countryside during holidays and busy weekends is no longer the yearned for an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city where overlapping and driving towards oncoming traffic does not startle the traffic policeman. The countryside driving has slowly turned into a nightmare. Motorists are spending nights in traffic gridlocks along notorious Mai Mahiu section, Kinale along Naivasha Nairobi Road, Kambiti along Kenol Nyeri highway, and Mombasa Road at Konza among other spots. The situation is caused by impatient drivers who drive towards oncoming traffic to jump slow snarl up traffic. Doing so from both sides stops any movement. The government ministry of transport and infrastructure is equally to blame for failing to upgrade these important highways to dual standards. Vehicles number has increased exponentially but the authorities cannot claim not to have seen it coming since they collect import duties from all the new units. It is the failure to plan ahead.

Mombasa Nairobi Expressway

A US-based company Bechtel has been contracted by Kenya National Highway Authority KENHA to do a dual carriage Toll Road from Mombasa to Nairobi. The 473 Kilometre road will be built away from the existing highway giving motorists a choice on which road to use. The road will be restricted expressway, the first of its kind in Kenya.

Motorist Association of Kenya Activities

MAK windscreen member identification stickers have continued to help us from undue harassment from wayward enforcers as those who have them are more enlightened on their driver rights. The badge identifies with strict traffic directions and regulations under most of which are directed by an interagency of state and non-state players under NCAJ. The office urges those with stickers yet to be operationalized, to do so to continue enjoying the membership status. Among the benefits of an activated sticker are - legal advice & representation, good corporate image, regular newsletter updates on safe motoring tips, free listing guide among others.

The office would like to bring attention to those with MAK un-operationalized stickers to activate them. Old stickers are replaced upon request.

To get new stickers you just need to register with an amount of your choice in the margin of Ksh 200 300 500 and 1000, the ordinary subscription notwithstanding. You can also get your sticker by participating in any of MAK activities, sponsoring or when you buy MAK products i.e. Motorists’ Guide (Know Your Driver Rights & Responsibilities), car litter bin or other listed products. This category is issued with the representation sticker B.

The usual registration is ongoing. To facilitate the activity you need to fill the attached form and pay through Till no.992288. Upon regularization, to membership status, a member receives a representation sticker, member card, legal representation card, a free Listing Guide, Newsletter updates et al

We are stronger together

RE: KENHA AND NAMATA ARE UTTERLY WRONG ON MEANING OF A BRT

As an association of motorists, we were dismayed yesterday when the above named two agencies marked the fast lane on Thika Superhighway as a BRT Lane. This by any means is not a BRT in the sense that world Bus Rapid Transit is build up on the left side to enable pick and drop off commuters. An express lane serving Githurai and Roysambu only cannot serve commuters during off-peak and indeed peak times. It is a folly to interfere with the design of an expressway in the manner the two government agencies are doing.